Lodging and Logistics for a Bicycle Tour in Germany

We wrote about renting bicycles in Germany in an earlier post and we just posted a note on lodging resources for cyclists in Italy. This post will direct you toward planning resources for routes and lodging in Germany.

If you are planning a bike tour in Germany you'll eventually want to look at the Deutscher Allgemeiner Fahrrad-Club, one of the best bicycle advocacy groups in the world.

For lodging for bicyclists in Germany click here. This page is English, but eventually you'll need to exercise that high school German as you explore their site.

For bicycle routes in Germany click here.

For a great resource on bike touring guidebooks, we've written about the German series "Bikeline" in an earlier post.

Rent a Bicycle in Germany

Here are two great resources for renting bicycles in Germany and for general information about bike touring in Germany.

Before you start looking around, however, note the two photos. Very few companies in Germany offer lightweight touring bicycles. Most are fully equipped city or hybrid bikes complete with fenders, lights, racks, and more. They are pretty substantial bikes. So keep that in mind as you explore your options. Bike Rentals Plus has actually shipped lightweight touring bikes from Italy to customers in Austria for rides down the Danube to Budapest. (One fellow bought one of our used bikes in perfectly good shape. We shipped it to him in Vienna and he sold it in Budapest for 60% of what he paid for it. Everyone was happy!

Bicycle Germany is a web site by Tim and Maxa Burleigh, avid touring cyclists. There may be more information than you want, here, but at least they've done a lot of research for you. If you looking to rent a bike in Germany, start on this page.

Here's another blog with fairly recent bike rental options in major German cities.

For more photos of Germans and Austrians cycling the Danube Bikeway visit our Flickr site.